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  #21  
Old 31-12-2020, 09:28 PM
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The_bluester (Paul)
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We did a bit more fault finding tonight, with the Pi direct connected to Andy's Mac it is a little more responsive screen wise (As expected)

The issue seems to be one with Kstars, open it and it seems OK, but a couple of minutes and it goes non responsive, hitting the search button produces a two minute wait before it pops up and the only fix is a reboot (Which can be done by the web dashboard, which stays responsive) the web dash reports plenty of free memory, free disc space, low CPU utilisation and about 40 degree system temp.

I am wondering if we mis-configured something, I am thinking the next step might be to re flash the memory card with the OS image and try again.
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  #22  
Old 01-01-2021, 07:22 AM
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Sunfish (Ray)
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Have you looked at this ?:
The astropi script for setting up kstars and the forum comments?

https://www.indilib.org/forum/genera...d.html?start=0
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  #23  
Old 01-01-2021, 10:35 AM
kens (Ken)
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Could be network. If the background DSS imagery is enable in Kstars it gets it from the network. Network hang ups always stuff up a system.
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  #24  
Old 01-01-2021, 03:40 PM
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Solved!
I used VNC instead of the built in mac screensharing.
Combined with a direct ethernet cable to the laptop.
Boom!
Blazing fast searches, plate solving, go-to’s etc. all good.
Of course, now it’s going to rain for the next week!
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  #25  
Old 01-01-2021, 08:07 PM
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Great.
VNC Works for me too over Ethernet cable or wireless .
Sometimes takes a few minutes after boot to settle in to the connection which is where an inbuilt lcd would help to see when the connection was solid before connecting with VNC


Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01 View Post
Solved!
I used VNC instead of the built in mac screensharing.
Combined with a direct ethernet cable to the laptop.
Boom!
Blazing fast searches, plate solving, go-to’s etc. all good.
Of course, now it’s going to rain for the next week!
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  #26  
Old 02-01-2021, 07:08 AM
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That would probably why I did not spot the issue earlier. The early setup was done with the Pi ethernet connected to my home network and using VNC from my PC, which is also hard cabled. It also explains why when we were having trouble out under the stars I could still hear the mount guiding when it was non responsive, the Pi was working away in the background, we just couldn't get at it.

The next test will be if the VNC connection is stable over wifi, if it is then we do a bit of wifi enhancement at Andys place for imaging at home so his laptop can stay inside the house, he can use my wifi if he images here (I have a good network at home with a dedicated AP I use to cover where I image from so my own screen sharing over teamviewer is good) and use the Stellarmate hotspot when at a star party, bob's your uncle.
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  #27  
Old 02-01-2021, 10:05 AM
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mswhin63 (Malcolm)
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I use VNC Predominantly over WiFi. I have zero issues with connectivity. I have the visual setting to the highest quality.
I don't use noVNC, Although this is Astroberry not Sellarmate, I do not know if they it used.
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  #28  
Old 02-01-2021, 11:47 AM
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pmrid (Peter)
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Curse you! All this talk has made me try again. Just got the current Stellarmate OS and App for my iPad and loaded it up on a Pi4 with 4 GB and a M.2 SSD as boot drive. The current EKOS now seems to have addressed many (but not all) my previous problems. My Feathertouch (Optec/FocusLynx) focuser is now on the list as is my SBIG CCD and STi guider. That’s a big step forward. Sadly, there is no SBIG FW listed so that’s a stumbling block.

The IOS App found the Stellarmate HotSpot and logged me in OK but it feels clunky and I plan switching to using a lappie and direct connect via ethernet cable.

But I have to admit this is feeling a lot more positive.

Peter
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  #29  
Old 02-01-2021, 12:21 PM
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If I was not well invested in the flexibility Voyager brings to the party using the dragsripts, this would be tempting to me too.

Next up is to get a real time clock module and fit it to Andy's Pi (A prebuilt Stellarmate includes one) so there are no date/time issues to contend with at star parties. I believe for the common one you have to solder the header pins to the board to use it so that will be a job for me.
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  #30  
Old 02-01-2021, 12:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_bluester View Post
If I was not well invested in the flexibility Voyager brings to the party using the dragsripts, this would be tempting to me too.

Next up is to get a real time clock module and fit it to Andy's Pi (A prebuilt Stellarmate includes one) so there are no date/time issues to contend with at star parties. I believe for the common one you have to solder the header pins to the board to use it so that will be a job for me.
I just installed a RTC a DS3231 in my Pi 3B. But putting one in a Pi4 is problematic because the 4s require active cooling and access to the Pi’s GPIO 5 volt and ground pins while the RTC also wants similar access plus SDA and STC pins. So. RTC is not an easy fit - particularly if your Pi4 is in a case. And finding an easy way to adjust the Pi’s clock has so far eluded me.
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  #31  
Old 02-01-2021, 03:01 PM
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You can get the Pi to sync its time from whatever computer you are running from. But that computer needs to be set up as a NTP server.
So I have an Ubuntu box that connects to the Pi hotspot with a static IP address 10.42.0.100 and runs chrony as an NTP server
On the Pi (which is running Ubuntu server) I set the NTP server as 10.42.0.100 in timesyncd.conf

The config specifics will be dependent on which time sync service you are running on the Pi, and you may need to install some sort of NTP server on your other box. This should not be difficult
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  #32  
Old 02-01-2021, 03:36 PM
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The other way is I believe you can set up the Stellarmate to work from a GPS device? I would assume it should be able to pull time from that.
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  #33  
Old 02-01-2021, 03:39 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_bluester View Post
The other way is I believe you can set up the Stellarmate to work from a GPS device? I would assume it should be able to pull time from that.
Good point. I have one I can try.

Just tried to direct-connect via ethernet cable. No joy so I'm going to have to go back to the proverbial drawing-board.
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  #34  
Old 02-01-2021, 04:56 PM
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Is that with Stellarmate? Maybe not your issue but you need to flip it in to direct connect mode with the app (It may be doable over a screen share but I have not got one here to test) then change your PC to IP 192.168.100.2 subnet 255.255.255.0, gateway of 192.168.100.1 (the Pi) it also had some DNS server addresses to put in but looks like Andy got his running on the Mac without as it did not show a DNS server address entry in the screen Andy was on. Presumably that would mean for VNC etc you need the IP address 192.168.100.1 rather than using a host name.
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  #35  
Old 02-01-2021, 07:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_bluester View Post
Is that with Stellarmate? Maybe not your issue but you need to flip it in to direct connect mode with the app (It may be doable over a screen share but I have not got one here to test) then change your PC to IP 192.168.100.2 subnet 255.255.255.0, gateway of 192.168.100.1 (the Pi) it also had some DNS server addresses to put in but looks like Andy got his running on the Mac without as it did not show a DNS server address entry in the screen Andy was on. Presumably that would mean for VNC etc you need the IP address 192.168.100.1 rather than using a host name.
I’m a bit stumped with the “flip to direct mode” thing. Haven’t been able to find where or how to do that. Any clues?
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  #36  
Old 02-01-2021, 09:54 PM
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I personally use the Host name method, as this is interchangeable when using it via my WiFi router or when I take it to dark skies and use it in standalone method. I then do not need to remember IP Addresses. I do not know if stellarmate does the same as I use Astroberry. At home I primarily connect to WiFi router.
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  #37  
Old 03-01-2021, 05:43 AM
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The easiest way I found was through the web dashboard, so you would connect to the wifi hotspot to get to the web dashboard then use that to flip it in to direct connect mode on the ethernet side.


Regards using host name, I found that to work on my PC but we had issues with that on the Mac when Andy was at my place, but we did not have much time to play with it, and we did not try host name by direct connect ethernet as it was at that time hooked up to my ethernet setup at home and not in the same room to direct connect it.
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  #38  
Old 03-01-2021, 06:11 AM
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pmrid (Peter)
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I found the "DIRECT CONNECTION" option and managed to get Pi and PC talking last night. I just need to remember how I did it. Altering the properties on the network adapter on the PC of course is necessary - as previusly mentioned here. KStars comes up by default when the Pi stars up and I then start it on the PC as well. Then I started EKOS on the Pi and the PC. The trouble is that in order to start EKOS on the PI it needs a KB, Mouse and Screen connected which rather defeats the purpose of having the Pi at or on the scope. Still working on that!!

But progress all the same.
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  #39  
Old 03-01-2021, 06:52 AM
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There must be a configuration difference between yours and Andy's if we remote in to the Pi and start Ekos (Kstars starts up by default, like yours) we get a message that there is already a session running and do we want to kill the already running one.

I think we are probably going to get Andy going using the Pi to run the entire show for now, screen sharing in to it to drive it with hopefully nothing but file transfer to do in the morning. Once he is comfortable with that we will see about splitting the grunt work of capture with Indi on the Pi dealwing with the gear and Kstars/Ekos on the Mac.

If it proves reliable I can see advantages to letting the Pi do all the work, it means the Mac is free to use for something else as soon as the session is set up and running, more or less what I do with Voyager, it is all self contained in the NUC I use at the mount, barring problems I do not need to interact with it at all once it is up and running for the night.
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  #40  
Old 03-01-2021, 09:55 AM
vin_ap (Caleb)
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I use Astroberry and have the Pi running the show. My laptop is connected to the Pi via Pi hotspot and use VNC to monitor and control the programs on the Pi.

Quote:
There must be a configuration difference between yours and Andy's if we remote in to the Pi and start Ekos (Kstars starts up by default, like yours) we get a message that there is already a session running and do we want to kill the already running one.
In the Astroberry the Indi server is running separate to kstars-ekos. So in the ekos profile setting you have to select remote host not local and press the scan to find the IP of the Indi server. If you have it set to local and start the connection it will ask to terminate the Indi server that is already running and ekos will start a separate local Indi server.


Last night I gave the Kstar-Ekos another go and had problems plate solving and the mount was pointing west when the goto message was to north. Would dearly love to get this setup working correctly and every time, I face different problems...marching on.. fingers crossed if this setup works it would make my setup and pack up easier and more portable for dark sites.
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